Fire Emblem: Three Houses Story Analysis - Azure Moon (Blue Lions Part 2)

 The following is a series on Fire Emblem: Three Houses that analyzes the story elements, characters and theming. For reference, here are the links to each one:

Intro/Basic review, White Clouds (Common Part 1), Cindered Shadows (Ashen Wolves DLC Route - Part 1.5), Crimson Flower (Black Eagles/Eagle House Part 2, Adrestia route), Silver Snow (Black Eagles/Eagle House Part 2, Church route), Azure Moon (Blue Lions/Lion House Part 2), Verdant Wind (Golden Deer/Deer House Part 2) Non-house leader characters (Eagle, Deer, Lion, Church) Music analysis (very surface level)

Part 2: Azure Moon - MY PARENTS ARE DEAAAAADDD!!!

Have you ever read any of the modern Batman comics or watched any of the recent movies and noticed that Bruce Wayne is so obsessive over the loss of his parents years ago that he struggles to respond to any normal events in a person's life like a rational adult? Like, to the point that you start to question if any trained psychologist ever attempted to help him as a child?

This stems from the 1980s stories written by Frank Miller, the writer whose stories The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One helped set the tone for the modern Batman.

Miller is, to be blunt, an off-putting individual for people like myself. His writings seem to demonstrate a low opinion of psychology as a field and therapy as a treatment; his heroes' actions will overreach to the point that it seems like he sees authoritarianism as a real solution to pesky things like due process and proof of guilt; and he's willing to justify his heroes' actions to the point that he'll strawman whole groups of people to make his hero seem reasonable, which leads to wildly racist/sexist/bigoted stereotypes that give his already-authoritarian messaging a fascist undertone.

Most Bat-writers now try to actively avoid the uncomfortable aspects of Miller's writing like the plague, but they try to maintain his tone. And thus we've had nearly four decades of a brooding, unable-to-cope Batman who cannot break his self-destructive habits. The rare times where Bruce has had a chance to find inspiration to get better (Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, his relationship with Selina Kyle) have all eventually been cut short so that no lasting positive change occur with DC's resident sad-boy.

Many of you are probably asking why I decided to start this FE3H analysis with a multi-paragraph rant about my frustrations with the never-ending sorrow in Batman comics. To put it simply: Dimitri's story is basically just a Batman story where he learns not to "KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!!!"

Yes, there are distinctions between the two, most notably that Batman ends up deciding not to kill, period, while Dimitri learns not to kill for vengeance. Still, as someone who spent over a year on this blog reviewing various Batman comics, I thought there were enough parallels that I'd keep Bruce's journey in most books in mind while talking about the War Phase of the Lion House.

(NOTE: I brought this up in other blogs, but I will be focusing primarily on the house leader and Byleth's relationship in this section, bringing up other characters when needed. The other members will have their journeys considered in a separate blog for the sake of length. This is especially true for Azure Moon, where the supporting characters' arcs get kind of buried alive underneath Dimitri's.)

I want to make clear before starting that I actually really enjoyed playing through Azure Moon and think the writing for this storyline was mostly brilliant. There is real thought to everyone's characterization and motivation, as the story marches through its beats to hammer home a lot of themes about how everyone's views affect each other and Fodlan at-large.

I say this now because it's going to sound to many like I'm lashing this story and am piling on criticisms. To be clear, my opinions are not coming across negatively due to the story's lack of quality; my negativity stems from the fact that I view the themes in Azure Moon as completely antithetical to my view of the world. 

And no, that does not mean I see Azure Moon as the "villain route." Truthfully, there really isn't a villain route, and all four routes end up improving the world at least a little. My argument is that the route in Azure Moon does the worst job of addressing Fodlan's problems, and because Dimitri speaks with a high degree of self-righteousness, my blog is going to be more forceful against his points to illustrate why I believe he is creating a world where his friends and the continent have to settle for major disappointment in their lives.

One bad day... or rather, one REALLY bad time skip

Chapter 12 of White Clouds tends to have very little of substance beyond the Empire's invasion of Garreg Mach. The most notable thing we see is the aftermath of Dimitri's mental breakdown in the Holy Tomb. He's become obsessive and vengeful, seeking to destroy Edelgard for what he believes is a mutli-year betrayal.

When Byleth falls into the canyon and goes into a five-year slumber, the events that happen in non-Crimson Flower routes all play out, though since we have ties to the Kingdom this time, those events are more of the focus. Cornelia, an official for TWSD, organizes a coup on behalf of Edelgard and the Empire, and Dimitri is slated for execution. Dedue protects him and takes the guillotine in his place, and the now one-eyed Dimitri now wanders the wilderness as a lone-wolf vigilante.

Well, he may see himself that way. In reality, he's an unhinged lunatic who is killing people he deems to be bad until he can figure out a way to kill Edelgard. Throughout this entire journey, he still hears the echoes of the dead, demanding that he exact vengeance for them so that they may rest peacefully.

I am immediately drawn to Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, the animated movie where Bruce falls in love with a woman and is so unable to accept the idea of happiness and love that he pleads with his parents' graves for permission not to do his Bat-crusade. It's an obsession with death and a warping of the wills of loved ones for a destructive purpose, and it's one that severely damages Dimitri's ability to move forward.

When the time comes for the Millennium Festival reunion, Dimitri has paid no attention to the time and is only there because Garreg Mach is an easy place to hide and find looters for his killing spree. Byleth reaches the tower only to find a broken man who is unable to trust anyone or anything.

Let's let the wild animal with no regard for our lives run free! (Pro-tip: DO NOT DO THIS IN REAL LIFE!)

After we reunite with everyone and stop the obligatory bandits, Gilbert joins us in place of the executed Dedue and the Knights of Seiros combine their forces in what is by far their least consequential role of the game.

Yes, technically the gang's all here, but aside from the occasional insertion to the conversation by Seteth, there isn't much to their existence as far as contributions to the story go. Instead, a lot of time in the early part of the War Phase is given to Gilbert and, later, Rodrigue.

Understatement of the century!

Bear in mind, we are being given Annette's and Felix's fathers as cast members, and in Gilbert's case, he's a playable character; however, there is very little interaction between the two. Felix chastises his father for being so devoted to Dimitri, and Rodrigue does the same in return for Felix not showing due respect. Unless you actively put Gilbert and Annette together to raise their supports, there is nothing in-game otherwise.

And I know this section is about Dimitri, but I need to lash this support right now. There is nothing resembling a happy ending between Annette and her father. It's the story of a girl who always had unreasonable expectations put upon her, got abandoned, moved in with a relative who also had unreasonable expectations and then spends her entire life trying to be (in her mind) worthy of the parent who abandoned her.

Annette is the one who has to reach out to him first. She and her mother are the ones who have to have their emotions on the matter tabled so he can finish whatever guilt trip he's dealing with. Let's be clear here: the person who abandons a family and makes no attempt to reach back out does NOT get to dictate when these conversations take place if the child initiates it. If the consequences come, you deal with them then and there. Simple as that. Comes at a bad time? Too bad! You have had more than enough time to get it together.

Gilbert puts an obscene amount of effort into helping Dimitri and maintaining his relationship with Dimitri, but he puts virtually no effort into his relationship with Annette at all. He makes her a doll. Once. And it's clear he just wants a moment of the family time back. He still holds no interest in dealing with the pain he's caused, and believes the guilt he feels over it is enough. Clearly not enough to make even a token attempt at fixing anything! Not enough to make sure they were taken care of! (Left that to your brother, who in the Japanese audio is a REAL piece of work.) Needless to say, Gilbert being a sycophantic replacement for Dimitri's dad while completely ignoring his actual daughter rubbed me the wrong way.

To tie this back in, though, everyone seems content to make Dimitri a prominent decision-maker in this fight (or at least offer it to him) while also pushing for him to eventually become king. And yet at no point do calmer heads prevail and ask, "Is it really the best thing for Dimitri that we put him in charge of others? Dude can't even properly care for himself right now."

Dimitri's death wish does end up extending to the people who help him. At one point, he even tells Byleth that he'll just keep using everyone and working them to death until he gets his fight with Edelgard. (And at this point, given his penchant for murder and torture, he should have been knocked out, locked up in a cage and told if he's going to behave like an attack dog, then he can only be out in the open when it's time to attack.)

The amount of leeway granted to Dimitri in this early stage is ridiculous, to the point that it made his over-the-top edgelord madness less enjoyable. If someone like this is going to exist, they need to be removed from everyone and possibly actively avoided. The idea that they keep bringing him in as if his opinion in this state means anything borders on lunacy.

His freedom even ends up causing real problems for them. He ends up defeating Randolph von Bergliez (one of Caspar's relatives) and chooses to torture him instead of just killing him outright. This is the sequence where he yells at Byleth because they (understandably) put Randolph down on the spot.

Not only is this one of the most blatantly unlikable things anyone in this game attempts to do, but it leads to Fleche, Randolph's kid sister, to go on a mission of vengeance herself. It pays off in a couple chapters, but I wanted to introduce it now.

Batman shows a much higher degree of clarity when he leads and has a distinct lack of desire to kill, and even in those cases, there will still be times where his methods are defeated and he must stand down (see stories like Wonder Woman's Hiketia.). There appears to be no regard for how off-the-rails Dimitri is in these early chapters.

Role of the Attendant/2nd-in-command

Having now talked about Gilbert and Rodrigue, whose focus on all things Dimitri dominated the first three chapters, we come to the Great Bridge of Myrrdin chapter, where we see Dedue again (assuming you played his paralogue in part 1). There is nothing added to the story if Dedue isn't present, so I want to talk about his role in the overall story.

Dedue is a vassal for Dimitri, joining up with him after Dimitri stopped his execution when the Kingdom did their revenge crusade against the Duscar people. This scenario plays out differently to the other vassal in the game: Petra, who was sent to the Empire after the Dagda/Brigid invasion as a hostage on behalf of Prime Minister Aegir (who was secretly running the country).

Because of this, where Petra's relationship with the Empire is complicated -- especially after Edelgard befriends her and removes the person who gave the orders against her from power -- Dedue's relationship with Dimitri is purely positive.

If anything, Dedue supports Dimitri to an unhealthy degree. Dimitri actively seeks friendship with Dedue, but Dedue will not hear of being treated as an equal until Dimitri's goals for Duscar are met. While such devotion does end up saving Dimitri's life, it gives him yet another person who will not hear of a scenario where Dimitri's orders are not followed.

Dimitri's understanding that the Duscar are innocent in his family's deaths is what leads to the paralogue opportunity in part 1, and that paralogue puts Duscar leadership in Dimitri's debt, which saves Dedue in the end. It's a display of one of Dimitri's best traits: a belief in people's innocence and desire to help the wrongly convicted. And his joy at seeing Dedue return to the battlefield is one of his absolute best moments.

Unfortunately, it does nothing to change his bloodlust. Dedue is all-too-willing to allow these plans to continue, even if they are self-destructive, because he knows what his end goal is (in theory) and doesn't feel it's his place to question things. In that sense, Dedue resembles Hubert, who also struggles to openly question any of Edelgard's decisions.

The difference between Hubert and Dedue is that while Hubert will defy orders he disagrees with at times (but not tell Edelgard so he doesn't to challenge her ideals directly), Dedue will not refuse any order that isn't "stop following me blindly." And while this extreme devotion does appear in this route, it's the other routes where the devotion is taken to its logical extremes. Whether it's taking up Dimitri's mantle of revenge (Verdant Wind and Silver Snow) or becoming a literal demon beast (Crimson Flower), Dedue earns the title of most devoted attendant in this game.

"Channel your power character development to me!"

To this point in the blog, I've been picking at the edges of this critique, but the chapter where the three-way battle at Gronder happens is where it becomes apparent that this story has no interest in telling anyone's story besides Dimitri. Everyone else's baggage is window dressing that only gets a mention if you can tie it back into Dimitri's business.

Following the victory at the Great Bridge, Dimitri allows Fleche (the Bergliez child who is bent on revenge against Dimitri) in to their camp, not knowing to whom she is related. This allows her access to him when they get to Gronder Field.

There is little to be said about the battle itself. Communications don't make it through to the Alliance in time, so once again we have a three-way battle that really has no business being a three-way battle.

Once Edelgard is able to flee, Dimitri tries to give chase, only for Fleche to take him down. As she stands over him talking about revenge, I am reminded of Batman Forever, one of my favorite Batman movies, where Bruce has already taken revenge on Joker and watched Catwoman die taking vengeance on Max Schreck.

In Forever, Bruce takes in Dick Grayson, who wants revenge on Two-Face for killing his family. Bruce, knowing where the path of vengeance took him and Selina, tries to dissuade him from killing as a means of revenge, noting that seeing him be arrested and imprisoned would be better for him. I see a lot of that version of Dick Grayson in Fleche von Bergliez and was curious how they would handle the attack from a child.

The answer: They kill her. I mean, Rodrigue takes the fatal stab for Dimitri first, but then Byleth puts the Sword of the Creator through her. And just like that, the main character has killed a child younger than any of the students you had been teaching. I can not imagine that felt good and likely will haunt Byleth forever.

We'll never know, of course, because such mental focuses are not about Dimitri and thus must be left on the cutting room floor with Jeralt tea time and playable Sothis. Instead, we watch Rodrigue try to talk Dimitri back to sanity on his deathbed. His final words are about King Lambert and how proud he always was of Dimitri. Noticeably absent from his dying ramblings are any mention of Felix - his actual LIVING child who is on this battlefield. Felix doesn't even get dialogue about his father's death until you go exploring at the monastery the next month.

You may have wondered why I didn't make the obvious Alfred comparison in the Dedue section, and the reason is I felt it worked better in this one so I could talk about all of Dimitri's Alfreds at once. Dimitri has five Alfred-esque characters in this story: Dedue, Gilbert, Rodrigue, and even Byleth and Seteth. None of the five really do much to challenge him, even though he needs it. Byleth seems to be the only one interested in trying. Most Alfred variations will offer advice but never demand it be taken, choosing merely to let things go the way Bruce sees fit. It makes the few Alfred versions that do think for themselves (Michael Gough in the 1989 film, Sean Pertwee in Gotham sometimes) more notable.

The issue here is that the sheer volume of Alfred-like influences on Dimitri end up taking over the entire storyline, to the point that the ones with family members in the storyline end up neglecting them. So far, I've lambasted Gilbert for his treatment of Annette and her mother, but it really becomes a great stain on his character when his devotion to Dimitri is shown in their supports. He may speak to his great shame, but he never wavers from working with Dimitri and even acts like a parent to him at certain points. This is an action never shown to Annette even in their supports.

Rodrigue has similar issues, as his devotion and blind support of the royal family contrasts so badly with the utterly contempt-filled relationship he and his son have. The fact that Rodrigue feels guilt over it indicates he knows what a parent is supposed to do, but he can't bring himself to prioritize his family over the royal family.

This is the central thesis of the Kingdom - duty over everything, family included. It's why Fleche trying to kill the man who wanted to torture her brother is met with Byleth's sword, but everyone treating their family members like crap to support Dimitri gets either glorified or given a feeling of tragedy in the case of Rodrigue.

This is as good a time as any to bring up a deleted sequence from the game that I feel would have added to this theme of Duty over family. There's a scene early in Part 2 where Dimitri and Byleth discuss whether to go to free the Kingdom capital or attack the Imperial capital. The choice if effectively meaningless, but that's only because the consequences were removed.

Originally, had you chosen Enbarr, the Imperial capital, Felix and Annette would have left your group and gone to assist the Kingdom in Fhirdihad. Later, when going to free the Kingdom capital, you would have to fight and potentially kill the two en route to facing Cornelia. The code with the two in battle can still be accessed, and dialogue for the sequences was already written and recorded. The lines are still coded in.

It was likely taken out because they couldn't figure out a good alternate consequence for making the other choice, meaning the route would stay identical except one version would have fewer available units. The point is, under this setup, Felix would not have been at Gronder when his dad dies, and his dialogue reflects that. This is why Felix gets no mentions from his father.

But again, this ties into how being family is ultimately meaningless in the Kingdom if you don't agree. Felix's dad dies not mentioning him. Mercedes is going to be hurried off the battlefield while her brother dies and thus he dies alone. Gilbert declares with no hesitation that Annette must die in Crimson Flower should she be with the Eagles.

Many characters are defined by their actions; in this case, the Kingdom's characters are defined by their inaction. Dimitri is the focal point of so many of their lives that everything else takes a backseat. Even the horrors of killing a child must be put aside so Dimitri can deal with an existential crisis of his own morality.

Let's let the man who was a relentless murderer until this past month lead a whole country! (Tip: SERIOUSLY, DO NOT DO THIS IN REAL LIFE!!!)

The taking back of Fhirdihad is notable for two things: the killing of Cornelia and Dimitri's coronation as king.

Cornelia's death is of obvious importance if you've kept up with the Hapi/Dimitri support chain or gotten Cornelia's backstory late in part 1 from Sylvain. Basically she was an Imperial mage who figured out a cure for a Faerghus plague who eventually started to look and behave differently, which is implied to be that she was replaced by a TWSD figure or defected, at the very least. Her behavior was different enough that Dimitri's stepmother chastised her for Hapi's imprisonment, and it's during this timeframe that it's assumed Lord Arundel is replaced by Thales.

With Cornelia's defeat, TWSD's hold on the Kingdom is severed, and their longest-standing agent (that we know of) is killed, albeit as a side effect of Dimitri's mission.

In terms of Faerghus itself, Dimitri becoming king is seen as a point of stability for the country after Cornelia's reign, but the question remains here: Is this actually the right call to make?

Again, Dimitri has spoken callously of people until very recently. He has killed his own countrymen who were siding with the Dukedom and now has to get the whole country to follow him willingly. And this is all assuming that Dimitri's reform is stable and not prone to relapse while he's king.

I understand putting him in power until the end of the war for the sake of morale, but there is something strange and almost perverse about putting someone in power who has committed so many atrocities for flimsy reasons, if any. Heck, even Dimitri isn't sure this is a good idea, and yet he feels he has no choice. So much of this route is about not having a choice because duty calls.

Sylvain and Ashe dealt with having to kill family members without negotiation, all for the sake of duty. The sake of duty prevents Felix from ever reconciling with his dad or even being mentioned in his final words.

And as bad as it is for the men, it's somehow worse for the women. We've already discussed the fresh hell Annette deals with, but again, Mercedes's brother is fighting for the Empire, and she isn't given any time to grieve. She isn't even a Kingdom native, but its culture adversely affects her all the same.

Somehow, the one who gets this dealt to them constantly is Ingrid. She doesn't really have an interest in marriage but is betrothed to Felix's brother. When he dies, his death in service of his duty is glorified, and she then tries to live up to those ideals, only for all her childhood friends to chastise her naivete. Despite the fact that every single one of them ends up following along with those ideals in the end, she's the only one who ever has to admit she's wrong. And in the end, she still ends up in a position where the only way she can fulfill her dreams is to marry someone supportive of those dreams.

(I will agree, though, that she absolutely needed to get her head right regarding the people of Duscur. As someone who saw how angrily people reacted to Middle Eastern people after 9/11, I know her response to be cold toward Dedue is paltry by comparison, but it's still an attitude that needed to be worked out, especially since it turns out the Duscar people were innocent.)

There seems to be a lot of discontent with everyone's lots in life throughout the story, but the ability to take agency over one's own life really seems to be downplayed in Azure Moon.

On a positive note, that predictability ended up saving Claude, as he based his entire escape plan on predicting Dimitri's actions. The seventh battle frees Deirdru, the Alliance capital, from Imperial control, and also allows Dimitri to kill Lord Arundel/Thales.

Because Claude was able to predict how Dimitri would handle the previous few months, his aid request timed out perfectly, and Claude was able to hand off control of the Alliance to Dimitri.

The only thing I'll note is that Claude's scene here seems a little more subdued than the one in Crimson Flower. Here, it seems like he's not entertaining the idea of allying at all and seems to crack jokes more than act with sincerity. He does say he plans to see Dimitri again (likely as King of Almayra) and not to go too hard on him when they do, which given Dimitri's unpredictable nature seems like a fair request.

I interpret this as Claude realizing that a Fodlan run by Dimitri might not be as receptive to his ideology of an open border. He's trying to display some semblance of honor with Dimitri so that his attempts at diplomacy will be better received. Through this interaction and the one he has with Edelgard and Byleth in CF, you get a clear view of how differently Claude saw the two royals.

Bad negotiation, lost in translation

This is my least favorite scene in the English audio because so much of the thematic framing is lost. It completely undermines the tragedy that is the final battle.

Dimitri and Byleth go to meet Edelgard and Hubert to see if there is a way for the two to coexist peacefully. I applaud this approach, as it hearkens back to Dimitri's desire to negotiate with Lord Lonato after he was killed. Unfortunately, Dimitri not really being challenged to this point that he might be wrong really kills the negotiations before they even begin.

While asking why she started the war, he immediately begins lecturing that she could have reformed her own land and avoided casualties. Immediately, he just made A LOT of assumptions.

He assumes the Emperor can just make reforms without resistance (we know from the Eagle storyline that, in fact, the emperor cannot do such things, at least since the insurrection). He doesn't know what the reforms are. He doesn't know if the Church of Seiros would intervene in such matters. And yet he feels like he has a full functional understanding of how his neighboring nation works.

Remember this? And he's lecturing less than three months
later?

So much of this discussion reads like Dimitri is trying to castigate Edelgard for resorting to war without even considering the motivations. As someone whose country was literally created via a revolution over TAXES, I know there can be real motivations for fighting against a regime. And so many of Edelgard's motivations are based on suppression and crimes against humanity that I'd have liked to see potential solutions presented. But they aren't given, and I think that's the point of this route.

The idea of following duty and unwavering loyalty above all else has made the consideration of other ideas in Fodlan difficult to comprehend, at least in the minds of Faerghus nobles. It's why Dimitri is so unwilling to alter the social order, even if the good might outweigh the bad. And so Dimitri simply challenges all of Edelgard's arguments and tries to lead her toward stopping the fighting, because stopping the dissent is what he cares about. Edelgard is focused on the goals she wants to achieve for Fodlan, and Dimitri at no point offers how to fix said problems because he doesn't really ask what the problems are.

A war for independence, despite being the reason Faerghus exists, is incomprehensible in the minds of the Kingdom now. They have accepted the Church of Seiros as an unquestioned positive influence and will not hear of their power even being limited, let alone neutralized.

And thus, we get to the single worst translation in the game. Dimitri argues about how not everyone is strong enough to get by without the Church. He says that all people need those support systems and points out how he was saved from a dark path by Byleth and his support system.

At this point, Edelgard in the original script makes the point that those who have such things (i.e. support systems) cannot understand those who have none. This is the tragedy of the game.

Edelgard, as we know was betrayed by her own uncle, her family was sold out by the noble families who were supposed to be their support system, and the Church of Seiros, the Goddess Sothis, who supposedly had a special relationship with the Adrestian Empire, were all silent as her whole family was destroyed and her body violated.

Aside from Hubert, who refuses to speak to her as an equal, Edelgard has no one to stand at her side, to support her, to guide her. And in this route especially, with Byleth helping the leader so opposite her own, she is entirely alone. This moment emphasizes more than any other the importance of having someone to lean on and support you. In both Azure Moon and Crimson Flower, one receives Byleth's support, and one doesn't. One lives. One dies. It's a core theme of the whole story.

Too bad the game botches it in English!

The game mis-translates Edelgard's line about Dimitri not being able to understand someone without support as him being "highborn," which makes no actual sense because Edelgard is born a noble. This scene, which is meant to be a major thematic tie, ends up kind of thrusting Edelgard into an Amon-style role, where she leads a commoner revolution from an advantaged position. It's not a story-breaker - there were some French nobles who helped the commoners rebel in the French Revolution as well so her ideals aren't compromised; it's just egregious that such an important scene got nerfed.

The Oath of the Dagger, and the Fall of the Hegemon

There is a real tragedy to the final chapter being named "The Oath of the Dagger." There is a subtle difference in the way young Dimitri phrases his gift of the dagger to Edelgard versus what his adult self says when he returns it to her.

When Edelgard left the Kingdom, Dimitri said, "El, listen to me. No matter how hard things get, you can't give in, OK? You've got to cut a path to the future you wish for, no matter what."

This line served as an inspiration to Edelgard to survive her torment. It's one of the few maxims that made it through the haze of repressed memories she had. And it motivated her to change the world that was cruel to humans in service of two non-human factions' war with each other.

On the other hand, when he returns the dagger, he tells Edelgard, "This is for you. Use it to cut a path to the future you wish for. And I will rise up to meet you there...El."

He still talks about Edelgard cutting her own path, but now he promises to meet her there. Years ago, it would have likely been as an ally, assisting her in her goals. Now, it's to meet her as an enemy - to stop the vision Edelgard has from coming to fruition.

The dagger that helped save her life years before will now be the end to her life, and she makes it so by throwing it at Dimitri, forcing him to slice her down.

The battle itself is also a dark reflection of Edelgard herself. She is referred to in the game as the Hegemon, and the form she takes in the final fight is called "Hegemon Edelgard." She achieves it by taking a concoction developed by TWSD mages.

Up to this point, I haven't brought up Edelgard's relationship with TWSD, but now seems to be the moment. Edelgard has deep hatred for TWSD, understandably, because they were the group that helped take her father out of power and destroy her family. Her alliance with them in-game is one of necessity due to the war with the Church of Seiros - they're one of the most organized anti-Church factions in Fodlan - and one she plans to dissolve at the earliest convenience.

Crimson Flower is the only route where she succeeds in severing ties, as Byleth and the Eagles allow her to turn on them and face the Church and Kingdom unassisted. Silver Snow and Verdant Wind show them as arms-length allies that end up outlasting Edelgard, hence why Hubert requests Byleth go to finish them off.

In Azure Moon, however, Edelgard seems to have embraced the darkness more completely. This is likely due to a few factors: her relationship with Byleth being weakest here, Dimitri being more condescending in a sincere manner than Claude, a full-strength Kingdom being the most formidable challenge to the Empire's military on the continent, among others.

The biggest factor, however, seems to be the ideological canyon that exists between Dimitri's ideal Fodlan and Edelgard's ideal Fodlan. In other routes, Edelgard could be sure that at least some of her goals would be met with Byleth or Claude in charge. In Dimitri’s case, he wants to have open lines of communication, sure, but he’s made it clear that he thinks the system works and so he’ll try his best to maintain its core while making corrections around the edges.

The nobility will stay intact. Crests will keep holding their weight. Heck, the war between TWSD and the Church will remain because the Church will still hold major power and Dimitri doesn’t know about TWSD as a larger organization.

Edelgard feels now more than in any other route that her goals will fail in Dimitri’s hands, so she accepts the full force of the darkness she feels. She brings in TWSD mages, lets them hold power in the Alliance and Kingdom, and in this final fight, allows herself to become the weapon that TWSD always hoped she’d be.

This fight is incredibly painful and sad when seen in that light, but it is set up brilliantly and the actual level is a great challenge. This is why I’ve said that for all I disagree with the ideology of Azure Moon, the writing for it is top flight.

A better world, but the poison remains

At first glance, the world of Azure Moon seems to be a great, happy ending. Fodlan unifies under a new, beloved king. Rhea (who makes all of zero appearances in this route) gives the Church of Seiros to Byleth to manage. Reforms are made to be more tolerant of different nationalities and belief systems, and there seems to be a sense of openness that allows problems to be chipped away in ways that didn’t exist pre-war.

Heck, this is the only route with no Javelins of Light being used, so that’s one mass murder that didn’t happen! If this was your first route and only route, you could easily walk away seeing this as the good guy ending.

Unfortunately, much like much of this whole adventure with the Lions, all these niceties and seemingly great moments come laced with poison pills.

The Church of Seiros maintaining its power with Seteth and Rhea at least running the transition means that Byleth will go without a full understanding of Fodlan’s history with the church. All the technology and documentation that was suppressed is very unlikely to see the light of day and will have to be rediscovered.

The Crest system holding power in the nobility means that sooner or later, Crests will once again become a be-all and end-all in the power structure. Situations like Ingrid dealt with, where there is intense pressure to marry powerful, will be the subject of incomplete reforms that will eventually fall. Crest-gaining experiments may be likely to see a resurgence.

That last problem is due to the most important detail: TWSD was never outright destroyed. Cornelia and Thales were taken out by complete happenstance. They were Dimitri’s targets and that led to their demise, but the base in Shambhala is still at full strength and their Javelins of Light are still fully operational. And honestly, since they were never fired, Hubert couldn’t trace their location, so this could be a recurring problem for quite some time.

What initially seemed like a real success, becomes a hotbed for a host of new problems down the line. Fodlan cut out some symptoms, but its disease remains.

(NOTE: Worth noting that the DLC does try to at least address the TWSD problem, though it's limited. Thanks to a US Gamer article that actually makes similar points about the ending, I found out about Hapi and Dimitri's ending that shows Hapi pursued TWSD and Dimitri helped. I would still point out it says they pursued them. It does not say they found them, and there was no mention of Shambhala, so the Javelins are still a threat if any TWSD survive.)

Final Thoughts - Dimitri’s story… and ONLY Dimitri’s story

What really struck me when reflecting on this story and reading other takes on the story is how much Dimitri’s opinions and arc become the only things that matter in his story.

When he goes on his long vengeance streak, no thought is put into how his actions are affecting those around him. Felix gets one real bit of back and forth with his father, it isn’t positive, and then Rodrigue’s final words go to Dimitri. Nothing about Felix’s emotions really enters the story.

Gilbert’s role in the main story and his supports show him attentively filling in the role of Dimitri’s father while his role as Annette’s ACTUAL father flounders. They don’t even reach some form of understanding until their final scene together, and even then it’s not clear that Annette and Gilbert’s relationship is actually good again. Best case, it exists but that’s about it.

Mercedes loses a brother in battle and can’t even be there for his final moments. Ashe’s situation with Lonato was lost to time before the time skip even happened. Ingrid ultimately only gets to achieve her dream if her husband allows it to occur.

Worst of all is how Byleth is affected in terms of ability to develop. No thought is placed into where Byleth’s headspace has gone. Not after Dimitri goes on a vengeful tear that shames the one-month search for Solon and Kronya; not after Byleth kills Randolph without offering imprisonment, all to make sure Dimitri doesn’t torture him; not even after Byleth kills Fleche, a literal child, to protect Dimitri from an admittedly justified assassination attempt (again, I guess subduing and imprisoning isn’t a thing we do in Lion land.).

But all these problems fall by the wayside for Dimitri because they mostly work out, albeit not in an ideal form and certainly not through his own influence. He received constant support from all these people at their expense. His ideology is the one that wins out. His beliefs of what should be glorified end up winning the day. And if you pair him up with Byleth, it’s said the two argued intensely over reforms and how far to take them, implying Byleth basically had to become a negotiation-dominant Edelgard.

People who work with Dimitri’s ideals get glorified and get second chances; people who don’t die. And for all the good he tries to do, Dimitri’s future is an excellent argument as to why Fodlan needed a war in the first place.